Last of the Season

1 December 2006

It’s been a while since we got back to cold, wet England – and still seem to be on Pacific time, already missing the sun (and people :)) in California. We enjoyed lovely food throughout the stay, but not being able to cook for more than two weeks was a bit like torture for me – even more so when you come across so much lovely, fresh produce and you know you can’t cook it!

I’ll write about our trip later on, but here are some things I rustled up when we got back – I luckily got hold of the last figs of the season.

Black fig and chilli tagliatelli – a very simple pasta dish, from this recipe. I normally find creamy sauce too rich, but this was lovely. The heat from the grilled chillis and the sweetness of the figs work really well. I used green figs instead of black ones but it was equally delicious.

Flatbread with oven-dried figs, caramelised onions and blue cheese – a classic combination, I really like the rustic flavours. Roasting figs and slowly caramelising onions beforehand gives a lovely concentrated taste – they go wonderfully well with the walnuts and blue cheese. I used Italian ‘00’ flour instead of bread (strong) flour this time and it lent it a light, fluffy texture which complemented the topping nicely. Recipe from here (PDF link).

This is another recipe ‘with a twist’ from this Japanese patissier. The tuille biscuits are made with buckwheat flour – and the sandwiched custard cream has fig jam in it. These tuille biscuits are much crunchier and have more bite than the usual variety – and I think it works well with the textures/flavours from the figs. I used a shop bought jam for this, but you can always make it yourself (a good sounding recipe in the above PDF link) or you can have roasted (or even fresh) figs instead.

Oh and our cat was missing us loads (or vice versa) while we were away… We are lucky to have such kind neighbours who don’t mind looking after him as we know he gets freaked out when he has to go to the cattery. I’m hoping to get back to posting more regularly soon, and will try to write back to your messages and comments, thank you all for being patient!

PS
Since my last post I’ve changed the blog engine I’m using, so the URLs for the articles and particularly the RSS/Atom feeds have changed. The old ones still work for now, but please update any bookmarks and feeds you’re using. Thank you!

To make the biscuits, place the buckwheat flour, icing sugar and corn flour in a bowl and lightly mix. Pour in the double cream and milk and mix well. Place the egg whites and caster sugar in a separate bowl then whisk to the ‘ribbon stage’ (it folds into ribbons as you lift the whisk). Carefully fold the meringue into the buckwheat mixture with a spatula and rest in the fridge for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 150ºC. Spoon the mixture onto baking sheets, each biscuit about 2.5cm diameter, and bake for about 15 minutes.

To make the custard, place the milk in a pan and bring to the boil, then remove from the heat. Whisk the egg yolks with sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Sift both flours into the egg mixture and mix well. Pour the hot milk into the mixture, whisking constantly, return it to the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring all the time, until the custard thickens. Remove from the heat and blend in the butter. Mix in the fig jam when the custard is cool.

To serve, spoon over (or pipe) the custard onto the biscuits, then top with another biscuit, dusted with some icing sugar if desired.

Keiko—I stopped reading after “Black fig and chilli tagliatelli” because I was too excited. Okay, I didn’t really stop reading but I have to tell you that this sounds like a magnificent use of figs and now I’m really hungry. Hello to Matthew and the kitty.

hi keiko!
it’s amazing to see how your blog has progressed in the last year. i always enjoy coming back to look at your new experiments and wonderful photos and am still surprised that you’ve had no formal training (you’re too good! you must be lying haha) i hope you continue to keep blogging for a long time and thanks for all of your posts so far, they’re all very interesting to read :)

Love your cake pictures but where can we find the ingredients to those fabulous cakes. You did describe the method to do it but u didn’t write the ingredients. Can you provide the recipes. A good example is one that you blog on Buckwheat tuille biscuits with fig custard cream…u gave all the ingredients and method on how to bake it and is easy to follow. Thanks.

Keiko, as always, your photos are an isnpiration for me and thank you for the recipe of Buckwheat tuille biscuits, I am going to make them very soon, as I was wondering what to do with buckwheat flour except crepes and blinis. Thanks a lot! And have a nice end of the week!

Welcome back Keiko! I missed your posts a lot! And I am sure everyone did, too. Taglietelli looks wonderful. I love it when you take an ingredient and try lots of different and interesting recipes with it.
Cheers
Cenk

hi keiko, welcome back – how we’ve missed your always perfect, always gorgeous posts! i just love how this shows off the fig’s incredible versatility. my favourite, of course, are the buckwheat tuiles with fig custard – how ingenious! the combination looks delicious…

There’s just something about a fig, isn’t there … something wanton and divine. Blue cheese and figs is one of my all-time favourite combinations and I’ve added your flatbread recipe to my very long list of dishes to make. Thanks for the inspiration and beautiful photography.

Welcome back, Keiko! Oh, how I adore figs… I think the flatbread recipe sounds like complete heaven. And I can’t wait to hear more about your trip!

Poor kitty! I know back home in South Africa, our cats also had to go to the cattery when we went away and this freaked them out completely. In the car on the way home when we’d fetch them, they’d crawl behind you on the seat and sit there in the small of your back, trembling. Thank goodness we later found a woman who was also a breeder and ran a small cattery with gorgeous facilities – upstairs/downstairs accommodation, toys and a private outdoor run. But they still weren’t exactly ecstatic when they saw their baskets being taken out of storage ;-)

Hajimemashita Keiko San!
Ano ne,
From where i come from, they say that the fig is a fruit that originally came out of heaven, so, combined with your excellent cooking and beautiful photography, your fig dishes must be heavenly! I’ve been reading your blogs from time to time for a while now and Keiko-San, i think you are a genius in everything you do. Out of all the foodblog sites that i have ever come across, yours and Susan’s “farmgirl fare” blog must be the mosttt interesting ones to read! I wonder if you’ve ever come across her site? It’s at http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com

Oh my god, one of the best places to eat in New York makes a sandwich cookie that is similar to this. I am salivating at the site of this image. Thanks you for the recipe that I will now be using this weekend! :)